[Boltboy]

Gaming Rig, He has no interest OCing at all (don't ask), $1200 budget

Case:
Cooler Master Centurion 5 - cheap, highly rated
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119068

Mobo:
Asus P5E Deluxe (ddr2 1200)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131317

OR

Mobo:
Asus P5P43TD Pro (much cheaper, but not a packaged deal, uses ddr3 1600)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131395

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83 Ghz 12 MB L2 Cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115041

GPU:
EVGA 896-P3-1171-AR GeForce GTX 275 Superclocked Edition 896MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130478

Memory:
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231225

PSU:
OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341019

Hard Drive (Internal):
WD Caviar Black 640G 32MB Cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136319

Hard Drive (External - he also wants an external/backup option)
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136075

WITH
Rosewill RX35-AT-SU SLV Aluminum 3.5" Silver USB 2.0 External Enclosure
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182156

Lastly, he said he really needs a new router. I know VERY little about what is good and what isn't in this regard, but this one came highly rated:

Router:
D-Link DGL-4100 10/100/1000Mbps GamerLounge Broadband Gigabit Gaming Router
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833127060

EDIT: SCRATCH THAT - he needs a good, wireless option for the rest of the house.

With rebates and such this comes to just over $1000. Which is great, actually.

My questions:

-Does this external hard drive solution look good? It seemed cheaper to go with an internal hard drive with a 3.5 external case, AND this allowed the HD to be 7200 RPM as opposed to the more expensive 5200 (?) RPM drives.

-Any suggestions for a great wireless router?

-Is DDR3 Memory worth it right now? The DDR3 Asus Mobo is quite a bit cheaper, but comes to about the same price with the package deal and the mail-in rebate, so I'm really looking to know which is the better motherboard.

-Do you think - without overclocking - additional cooling will be necessary outside of the case fans? IE: new heatsink or additional fans.

Your help is MUCH appreciated. Thank you!

[Neuromancer]

Dead socket

Get a 955 or 965 Setup either AM2+/DDR2 or AM3/DDR3 setup and spend the money saved on a 5850/5870 when they come out next week

if he prefers Intel go with an i5 setup.

[bda1967]

I wouldn't be building anything on LGA775 anymore. I can't get your links to work either so let me try to put together an i5 or i7 rig for you under budget.

[nd4spdbh2]

go with an

Asus p7p55d pro
and an i5 750


just built a buddy a rig with that base and a gtx 260 with a 22inch monitor for 1050.

[Boltboy]

Originally Posted by bda1967

I wouldn't be building anything on LGA775 anymore. I can't get your links to work either so let me try to put together an i5 or i7 rig for you under budget.

much appreciated. thanks for the time.

also appreciate all the advice.

[Boltboy]

Also, I'm assuming the Radeon 5850 will be an upgrade to this OC'ed GTX275? (despite the similar pricing of - i've read - around $280-$300)

Also, are the AMD CPUs on top right now? It feels like it's been Intel for so long.

[ratbuddy]

Originally Posted by Boltboy

Also, I'm assuming the Radeon 5850 will be an upgrade to this OC'ed GTX275? (despite the similar pricing of - i've read - around $280-$300)

Also, are the AMD CPUs on top right now? It feels like it's been Intel for so long.

I'd go with an i5 as suggested above, and grab a 5850 when they come out. It should knock the socks off a 275. Watch Nvidia's pricing when the new ATI stuff comes out, they might get desperate and drop the floor out just to maintain market share.

For the external backup drive, you can spend an extra $10 and get double the storage, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136249 or bump up from $60 to $100 and get a full 1TB, there are many to choose from.

[bda1967]

Sorry I took so long to get back to you but here's something that I worked up.

This i7 rig just a hair over budget at $1215 without an OS. I assume you will use Windows 7 RC for now?

CASE: $54
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129042

MOBO: $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157163

CPU: $280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115202

RAM: $132
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227365

GPU: $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150359

PSU: $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006

HDD:$75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136319

HD Enclosure: $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182179

HDD: $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136320

Router: $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833127060



If you want to go i5 then substitute for these:

MOBO: $170 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128400

CPU: $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115215

RAM: $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231193

That i5 setup would run about $1090. With this set up you could even add another hard drive and have two internal hard drives for RAID or just run the OS on one and the page file to the other for better performance.

There are going to be many opinions on this and all are valid. This is just one example that you can go with without using a dead socket 775.

[turbohans]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...967&CatId=4721

I about dropped my beer when i seen this mobo/cpu/mem/video bundle.....

edit: $650 for I5 4gb and a gtx250, just pick up a case, power supply,, monitor and OS if need be for the other $600 LOL

[Boltboy]

Originally Posted by turbohans

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...967&CatId=4721

I about dropped my beer when i seen this mobo/cpu/mem/video bundle.....

edit: $650 for I5 4gb and a gtx250, just pick up a case, power supply,, monitor and OS if need be for the other $600 LOL

that is a SICK deal - but I think the gtx250 is a little underpowered since this is going to be his long-term gaming rig

EDIT:

holy crap - thanks for the build suggestions man. Appreciate your time.

[Neuromancer]

If you do go with an i7 920 instead of i5, got to microcenter and pick up the processor there. You will save ~ $80

Originally Posted by turbohans

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...967&CatId=4721

I about dropped my beer when i seen this mobo/cpu/mem/video bundle.....

edit: $650 for I5 4gb and a gtx250, just pick up a case, power supply,, monitor and OS if need be for the other $600 LOL

Sorry that is not a good deal unless you think a 250 and 4 GB of 1333 ram is worth 300 bucks

i5 750 is 200 and the mobo is available for 150

[Boltboy]

Just noticed that my links were not working - fixed that.

-Love the case change - that's much better.

-Why the much more expensive power supply that is only 50w more? Both are rated very well. Just making sure the price justifies it. It's about twice as much ($60 more)

-He needs a router w/ wireless capabilities - I actually really like that one but I can't find an equivalent wireless version w/ good reviews and a reasonable price - IE - NOT their wireless one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833127158

-THAT GPU is really well priced - how does it compare to the GeForce GTX 275 Superclocked?

-Last question - why only 4 gig of RAM if I go with the i5 build instead of the i7?

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by bda1967

Sorry I took so long to get back to you but here's something that I worked up.

This i7 rig just a hair over budget at $1215 without an OS. I assume you will use Windows 7 RC for now?

CASE: $54
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129042

MOBO: $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157163

CPU: $280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115202

RAM: $132
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227365

GPU: $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150359

PSU: $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006

HDD:$75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136319

HD Enclosure: $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182179

HDD: $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136320

Router: $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833127060



If you want to go i5 then substitute for these:

MOBO: $170 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128400

CPU: $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115215

RAM: $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231193

That i5 setup would run about $1090. With this set up you could even add another hard drive and have two internal hard drives for RAID or just run the OS on one and the page file to the other for better performance.

There are going to be many opinions on this and all are valid. This is just one example that you can go with without using a dead socket 775.

[bda1967]

The Corsair PSU is a very good PSU and rated very high and that is one component you don't want to "cheap out" with. I always recommend it even over what I have.

I wasn't sure if you needed wireless or not but you'll want a wireless n WAN with a gigabit (1000Mbps) LAN and with WPA2 encryption so I can look around.

I personally think there is little to no difference between the GTX 275 and 4890 in general. You should look at GPU reviews for the games you play in order to make that call though. Some do better in certain games over others.

i5 is dual channel so you would want a (2 x 2 GB) for 4GB or (2 x 4GB) for 8GB. I think 4GB is enough but that's up to you. If you ever decide to OC it you would want only 2 dimm modules instead of 4 for stability reasons.

i7 is triple channel so (3 x 2GB) for 6GB would be enough or (3 x 4GB) for 12GB for overkill.

[Boltboy]

awesome, thanks!

While I'm stealing you for all this great info. - any obvious downsides to going w/ this better-priced gigabyte mobo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128405

It's more barebones - but I know my buddy and he wont be doing ANY OCing or playing with it much. Good reviews too.

[bda1967]

This is a pretty good deal on a wireless router. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833127215

[bda1967]

Originally Posted by Boltboy

awesome, thanks!

While I'm stealing you for all this great info. - any obvious downsides to going w/ this better-priced gigabyte mobo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128405

It's more barebones - but I know my buddy and he wont be doing ANY OCing or playing with it much. Good reviews too.

Only 1 PCIe slot....No CrossfireX or SLI...mATX form factor too.

[ratbuddy]

Originally Posted by Boltboy

-Why the much more expensive power supply that is only 50w more? Both are rated very well. Just making sure the price justifies it. It's about twice as much ($60 more)

-THAT GPU is really well priced - how does it compare to the GeForce GTX 275 Superclocked?

-Last question - why only 4 gig of RAM if I go with the i5 build instead of the i7?

Thanks again!

Don't listen to the PSU thing. The one you had selected is fine, and way overkill anyway.

The 4890 is NOT well priced at $200. It's about as fast as the GTX 275, and both are going to be obsoleted in a week or so. Hold off on any video card purchase till the new stuff releases. Consider that you can get a 4870 1GB for $110 or so, and it becomes an even worse deal paying $200 for the 4890 - the 4870 performs very close.

i7 LGA1366 uses tri-channel memory, so you add in groups of 3, giving 6GB from 2 gig sticks. i5/i7 1156 uses dual channel, so 4GB would be the result. Either is plenty for a gaming rig.

[bda1967]

Originally Posted by ratbuddy

Don't listen to the PSU thing. The one you had selected is fine, and way overkill anyway.

The 4890 is NOT well priced at $200. It's about as fast as the GTX 275, and both are going to be obsoleted in a week or so. Hold off on any video card purchase till the new stuff releases. Consider that you can get a 4870 1GB for $110 or so, and it becomes an even worse deal paying $200 for the 4890 - the 4870 performs very close.

i7 LGA1366 uses tri-channel memory, so you add in groups of 3, giving 6GB from 2 gig sticks. i5/i7 1156 uses dual channel, so 4GB would be the result. Either is plenty for a gaming rig.

Like I said, everybody has opinions on this. The 4890 deal is better than paying $220 + for a GTX 275 at the moment. I'm sure his PSU is fine but a lot people like the Corsair so I recommend it as a fail-safe option.

[Boltboy]

Originally Posted by ratbuddy

Don't listen to the PSU thing. The one you had selected is fine, and way overkill anyway.

The 4890 is NOT well priced at $200. It's about as fast as the GTX 275, and both are going to be obsoleted in a week or so. Hold off on any video card purchase till the new stuff releases. Consider that you can get a 4870 1GB for $110 or so, and it becomes an even worse deal paying $200 for the 4890 - the 4870 performs very close.

i7 LGA1366 uses tri-channel memory, so you add in groups of 3, giving 6GB from 2 gig sticks. i5/i7 1156 uses dual channel, so 4GB would be the result. Either is plenty for a gaming rig.

Well, I was kinda referring to the fact that it ran about $40 cheaper than the GTX 275 and benchmarks that I checked showed them to be comparable.

So which card, exactly, are you suggesting to wait a week or so on that'll run a similar $200-$250 range?

[bda1967]

I would wait on the GPU until the new ATI cards come out. It should force price reductions on current cards. Unless you want one of the new 5xxx cards.